Florida ready for new tests in 2015, will roll out sample questions June 30, commissioner says

Florida's work on FCAT's replacement is "on time and on schedule," and educators will get more details about the new exams, including sample questions, on June 30, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said this morning.

Stewart, speaking at the State Board of Education meeting in Nassau County, said the state's public schools have lots of resources to implement the new "Florida Standards." Those are the state's version of Common Core academic benchmarks, which spell out what students should learn in langauge arts and math in each grade.

The new tests will be based on those standards -- which have been phased in for the past few years. If teachers "teach the standards," students will do fine on the new Florida Standards Assessment, which will replace FCAT math, reading and writing exams, she said.

"We need to be sure we are teaching the standards and thenthe assessment will take care of itself," Stewart added. "I've been preaching that sermon for years."

But the new tests are expected to be tougher, and the roll out of Common Core-aligned exams in other states, such as New York, lead to plummeting pass rates. The percentage of that state's 4th-graders doing well in language arts tests, for example, fell from about 59 percent in 2012 to about 30 percent in 2013.

So educators are eager to get more details on the new FSA exams.

"That is our concern, what is it going to look like?" said Jim Kubis, principal of Markham Woods Middle in Seminole County.

I spoke with him yesterday about his school's success -- 98 percent passing -- on the state's algebra 1 end-of-course exam.

The algebra exam is one of two current end-of-course exams -- the other is geometry -- that along with FCAT exams will be replaced by new FSA end-of-course exams next year.

But Kubis also said the key to student success was "great teachers" who focused "on improving instruction" throughout the school year.

On June 30, the Florida Department of Education will release blueprints of the new exams, details about their "content and format" and sample questions.